This is our clearest look yet at OnePlus’ affordable Samsung Galaxy S24 rival

Close up early pics of the OnePlus 12R
(Image credit: OnePlus)

The first big phone launch of 2024 is almost here, as the Samsung Galaxy S24 series is landing on January 17. But shortly after that on January 23 we’re getting the second big phone launch of the year, where we’ll see the OnePlus 12R and the global launch of the OnePlus 12.

These are likely to be OnePlus’ top phones for the year, so they’re key contenders to the upcoming Galaxy S24 and its siblings, and in the case of the OnePlus 12R, we’ve now seen leaked renders, showing it off in detail and from a variety of angles.

These come from reliable leaker Roland Quandt, posting on X (formerly known as Twitter), and show the OnePlus 12R in two shades, which previous leaks suggest are called Iron Gray and Cool Blue.

We’ve actually seen official images from OnePlus of the phone in these two shades previously, but not from this many angles, so this is our closest look yet at the OnePlus 12R. And while this is a leak – and should therefore be taken with a pinch of salt – since we’ve seen many of these details before in official imagery, these pictures are almost certainly accurate.

You can see then that the OnePlus 12R looks a lot like the OnePlus 12 (which is already available in China), thanks in large part to a similar camera housing.

It has a slightly curved screen, slim bezels, a punch-hole camera on the front, and an alert slider on the left edge, so you can easily mute the phone or put it on vibrate. As for the two different colors, the blue shade looks quite glossy, while the gray color has more of a textured look to it.

High-end looks with specs to match

In all, the OnePlus 12R looks like a high-end phone, and from what we know for sure about it (that it has a variable refresh rate and a massive 5,500mAh battery), and what’s been leaked (including 100W charging, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, a 6.78-inch 120Hz display, and a triple-lens camera with a 50MP main sensor), it sounds fairly high-end too.

That chipset is a year old now, and not all of the sensors on the camera might be flagship caliber. But for the most part it sounds well equipped, and yet the OnePlus 12R will reportedly start at just $499 (around £390 / AU$750).

For comparison, the standard OnePlus 12 will likely start at upwards of upwards of $699 / £729 / AU$1,199, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 price will probably be upwards of $799.99 / £849 / AU$1,349. So the OnePlus 12R is likely to be substantially cheaper than either of these phones, despite probably offering a near-flagship experience.

So as exciting as the Samsung Galaxy S24 is likely to be, you might want to wait and see what OnePlus has in store on January 23 before buying one.

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James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.